Forsaking Home (The Survivalist Series) (22 page)

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Sarge said in a tone only an army first sergeant could muster.

Every face swiveled toward him. Aric was petrified. Thinking he was caught in the act of killing two men, he quickly drew his pistol. Sarge saw the movement, but action is always faster than reaction. Jess caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and knew immediately what was about to happen. She started to rise and screamed, “No!”

Aric’s pistol cracked, at the same instant, Sarge grunted and fell to the ground. Ted grabbed Sarge’s shoulder and pulled him back out the door. At the same moment, he raised his carbine and flipping the selector switch to full auto.

Fred screeched, “Don’t shoot,” but it was too late. Ted fired a burst and Aric crumpled and collapsed. Ted stepped over the old man, gripping the fore grip of the rifle and moving quickly toward the downed man in the black uniform. Then something he hadn’t expected happened.

“Ted! Ted! Don’t shoot! Stop, stop!”

At the mention of his name, Ted swiveled around. It was then he realized who had called his name: Jess.

“Don’t shoot him, Ted. He let us out. Don’t shoot!” Jess shouted again.

Ted lowered the weapon. “Jess?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said as tears again began to run down her face. Ted looked back at Sarge. He was lying just outside the door, stuffing a dressing into his wound and cussing a storm. Jess and Ted both moved toward him. Ted fell to his knees. “How bad is it?” he asked frantically as he ripped open Sarge’s IFAK.

Jess dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Sarge’s neck. “Oh my God, oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here,” she began to cry. “I thought about you all the time, I prayed you’d come and here you are.” She was crying uncontrollably.

Sarge patted her on the head. “It’s all right, Annie—you don’t think I could leave you here, do you?” Jess smiled at the mention of the nickname he had given her what seemed like years ago.

“Jess, move out of the way, please. I need to wrap this up.” Ted looked at Sarge. “How do you feel?”

Sarge was leaning on one elbow, gritting his teeth. “Well, it ain’t good.” Sarge looked over at Aric. “What about that little shit, is he dead?”

Jess looked over to see Fred kneeling beside Aric. Fred was crying and trying to stop the bleeding from Aric’s right bicep. He was having a difficult time breathing, heaving slowly. Three of the four rounds hit the ceramic plate in his armor, and the fourth created a through-and-through wound in his arm.

“Aric, hang on!” Fred cried. “We’ll get help for you.”

Sarge groaned, and then cursed. The bullet had struck him in his left side where his leg met his hip. Ted helped him get the dressing on it and the bleeding under control.

“We’re going to have to get you to a doctor,” Ted said.

“No shit! Don’t look like it hit the artery, though,” Sarge replied.

“Hopefully. Let’s get you up and into the Hummer.”

“Don’t worry about me, check on his ass.” Sarge jutted his chin toward Aric. “Jess said he was helping them?”

“Yeah, she said he let them out.”

“Check on him, see if he’s going to make it.” Sarge looked down at his bloodstained pants, “Dammit, these were my best pants.”

Ted chuckled. “Then quit leaking all over them. You’re lucky he didn’t shoot your dick off.”

Ted moved over to Aric. When he knelt down Aric looked at him, unsure of what was going on. Ted glanced into his eyes for a moment, then picked up the Glock and shoved it into a cargo pocket.

“Do you have an IFAK?” Ted asked as he started to cut the sleeve of Aric’s blouse.

Aric was going into shock. All he could manage was to shake his head no. Going against all the rules of using your personal first aid kit, Ted pulled a dressing from his own, wrapping it around Aric’s arm.

“He’s going to be all right. Elevate his feet to prevent shock. The dressing will stop the bleeding.”

In a surreal moment, Fred grabbed Aric’s legs, lifted them up and swung them over on top of Cortez’s body, setting them on the dead man’s chest.

Calvin and Shane were standing there, stunned as the scene unfolded before them. Shane helped his father over to where Sarge was now leaning against the door.

“I’d like to say I’m glad to see you, but this turned into a hell of a cluster fuck,” Calvin said, shielding his eyes with his hands.

Sarge looked up. “I agree, Calvin, our first meeting was a little better. You look like shit.”

“You don’t look so good yourself.” He laughed.

“So what happened? They put the boot to you?”

Calvin rubbed his side. “You could say that. They grabbed us right after our meeting with you.”

Sarge nodded. “I know, we saw it. I’m sorry we couldn’t help.”

“I damn sure wish you had, but I understand why you didn’t. What are you doing here?”

Sarge smiled. “We just took control of the camp.”

Calvin let out a small laugh, then grimaced and grabbed his side. “Well, no shit.”

“No shit,” Sarge replied with a smile.

“I didn’t hear any shooting,” Shane said.

“We hadn’t fired a shot till now.”

Ted then appeared and helped Sarge up out of the building and toward the truck. Calvin and Shane also made their way out of the detention center behind them, moving slowly and methodically.

Just as Sarge sat down in the passenger seat, two Hummers came racing toward them.

“Dammit,” Ted groaned. “What are we going to do about this?”

Sarge shifted in the seat, trying to raise the wounded leg. “Let’s see who shows up.”

The two trucks slid to a stop. Livingston, Sheffield, Ed, and Tabor stepped out of the lead truck. A group of Guardsmen piled out of the second.

“What the hell happened up here?” Tabor said.

Sarge saw an opportunity and quickly started to seize it. “I think we found some of your insurgents.”

Tabor looked at the open door, then back at Sarge. “Are you all right?”

“They put up a little bit of a fight, but we took them out.”

Sheffield and Livingston stepped forward. “How bad is it?” Livingston asked.

“Does it look any kind of good to you?” Sarge asked, the pain beginning to make him even more cantankerous.

Livingston looked at Tabor. “You got a clinic here?”

“We do. Let’s get you over there,” Ed said. He did a double take, noticing Calvin and Shane. “Why are these prisoners out of their cells?” he demanded.

“We took them out to interrogate them. They aren’t going anywhere. Can you go see if you recognize the asshole who shot me?” Sarge asked, gesturing toward the door.

Ed and Tabor nodded and moved toward the door, and Sarge quickly motioned for Ted. He waited until the other two men stepped through the door. “Put those two in one of them cells. Take some of these guys with you and lock their asses up.”

Ted nodded and waved at the Guardsmen, who ran over and followed Ted toward the door.

When Ed and Tabor stepped through the door they stopped in their tracks, shocked by the scene. Two of their men were dead, another was wounded, and the prisoners were all out of their cells.

“What the
hell’s
going on in here?” Tabor yelled.

Fred and Jess both let out an audible gasp.

“Kay, what the hell are you doing in here?” Tabor asked. The look on her face was one of complete fright.

Ed stepped past Tabor and got in Ted’s face. “What in the hell is going on in here? Why are these prisoners out?”

The four Guardsmen rushed by and took Tabor to the ground, pushing him inside a cell. Then, Ted planted a knee into Ed’s crotch, dropping the man. Ted bent over and stripped the pistol from Ed’s belt, tucking it into a cargo pocket. Curled in a fetal position, holding on to his manhood, Ed looked up at Ted and moaned, “What the fuck was that for?”

Ted grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up, pushing him through the cell door. Inside, Tabor was trying to fight the four Guardsmen holding him down.

One of the Guardsmen stood up and brought the butt of his rifle down on Tabor’s sternum several times. “Go to sleep!” the Guardsman shouted. The blows knocked the air from Tabor’s lungs. He immediately went limp, exhaling a forceful groan.

With Tabor subdued, the soldiers dragged him to the cell Ed was in. Ed looked down at his boss, then back at Ted. “What the fuck is this about? Why in the hell are you doing this?”

“You bastards are getting what you deserve, or at least you probably will, later,” Ted spat.

“What we deserve—what the hell have we done? We run a refugee camp, for Pete’s sake!”

Ted pointed at Ed’s face. “That’s the first time you’ve used the term
refugee
. They’ve always been
prisoners
or
detainees
, but now that your ass is in the fucking sling you’re singing a different tune.
That’s
why you’re in here,” Ted said, slamming the door.

He made his way to the door, ordering the Guardsmen to help assist the ladies out of the center. In their weakened condition, it was difficult for them to walk normally.

Outside Sheffield and Livingston were standing beside the Hummer, talking to Sarge.

“Just got word they’ve got the DHS boys all herded together and the situation has been explained to them. The jig is officially up now,” Livingston said.

“Good. They got them all? Any trouble?” Sarge asked.

“Yeah, there was a little trouble, but they didn’t have to shoot anyone. Couple of them took a bit of a beating, though. Guess some of the guys were a little wound up.”

“A little beatin’s good for ’em. God knows they’ve been inflicting it on others,” Sarge said.

“We need to do something with the civilians. They’re scared, now that they know there are no guards around. We need to make an announcement to let them know what’s happening,” Livingston said.

“I agree, but we also need to maintain the camp as it currently is until we can determine who’s who. Then we can make an announcement,” Sarge said. He groaned loudly and clutched his hip.

Sheffield shook his head. “We need to get you over to the infirmary.”

“Teddy!” Sarge yelled.

“Yeah?”

“Hurry up! I’ve only got so much of this red shit in me!”

“Go ahead and take him, Ted. We’ll take care of this situation and post a couple of our guys for security to deal with these bodies,” Livingston said.

Ted looked back at Jess and Fred, who were still with Aric, eyes averted. “He needs to go to the infirmary too. So does that other woman.” Livingston ordered the Guardsman to help Aric and Mary into the truck.

Ted helped the girls up, wedging them into the back of the Hummer.

“Ted, we need sunglasses or something. The light hurts our eyes,” Jess said.

“We’ll find something for you soon as we get to the infirmary. Speaking of which . . .” He keyed his mic. “Hey, Doc.”

“Go ahead, Ted.”

“Get to the infirmary. The old man’s been hit.”

Before Doc could reply, Mike broke in.
“Is he all right? How bad is it?”

Doc came back.
“Ted, I’m on my way, is he stable?”

“Yeah, he’s stable and cantankerous as hell.”

“Roger that, I’ll be waiting.”

“I’m on my way too,”
Mike said.

 • • • 

Sheffield and Livingston were discussing how many men to leave behind when they noticed that Shane and Calvin were staring at them.

“Sorry to interrupt, fellas. But what are we supposed to do now?” Calvin asked.

Livingston looked at the man, who was bent over and couldn’t stand straight. “Who are you and what in the hell happened to you?”

Calvin stabbed a finger at the retreating Hummer. “We were captured right after meeting with them. My name’s Calvin Long. This is my son, Shane.”

“So what happened to you, Calvin?”

“We put up a fight, but there was too many of them. When we got here they put the boot leather to me”—Calvin looked at Shane—“and done worse to him.”

“Why’d they come after you?” Sheffield asked.

Calvin thought about the answer. “We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They saw us and started shooting when we pulled away from the meeting.”

“You know the old saying, roads are for people who want to be ambushed,” Livingston said.

“Truer now than ever before, I guess,” Calvin said.

“Why were you out on the road?” Livingston asked.

“We found a guy who escaped from here, and from how he described it, the conditions were awful. I had a feeling that Sarge’s crew was in the area for a reason, and this camp was the only reason I could think of. I reached out to them and we met up to give them some intel we had on the camp layout. Then we got ambushed,” Calvin explained.

“So you guys were the source of the map?” Sheffield asked.

“The guy that we had found was the source. He was killed in the ambush,” Shane replied.

Sheffield nodded. “I see.”

“So, again, what do we do now? Can we go home?” Shane asked.

“Uh . . .” Livingston looked at Sheffield, then back at Calvin. “Yeah, I guess so. Where’s home?”

Calvin chuckled. “You’ll understand if I don’t want to tell you that, won’t you?”

“Oh sure, I understand,” Livingston said.

“Hop in with us. Let’s take you to the infirmary and get you checked out before you head home,” Sheffield said.

“Thanks,” Calvin said. The father and son supported one another as they walked toward the Hummer. Even though they were in rough shape, the fact that freedom was so close to being theirs again put a little pep in their step.

T
he nose of the canoe ground into the bank. I hopped out, followed by Taylor, Little Bit, and the bucket of snails. Danny came out last with the tangerines. Mel and Bobbie came gliding up next. I grabbed the bow of Mel’s boat and pulled her up. Danny did the same for Bobbie. Little Bit took my hand as we walked up toward the picnic tables. As we got closer I saw Lee Ann sitting by the fire, talking animatedly with Thad and Jeff. I was surprised to see her there and a smile crept across my face.

Mel caught up to me. “Look, Lee Ann’s out here,” she said.

“And she looks happy. I wonder what’s up?”

We all took chairs around the fire. I sat across from Lee Ann, who smiled at me. “Did you find the tree?”

“We did.”

“Can I have one, please?”

“Sure,” Danny said, tossing her a tangerine.

Before long we were all peeling and eating them.

“They’re a little dry, but not that sour,” Lee Ann said.

“Not as sour as I remember,” I said, looking at Danny. “Remember when we found that thing?”

He was chewing on a section of the fruit and started laughing, revealing a mouth of tangerine guts. “Oh yeah, we were camping on that little island upstream.”

I chuckled. “That’s the night I caught that big-ass catfish.”

Danny’s head rocked back. “Yeah, and made that rice stuff with the summer sausage.”

“Ooh, don’t say
summer sausage
, gonna get me hungry,” Thad said. “Speaking of meat, I’ve been thinking, we really wasted a lotta that that last hog we had. I want to do it right this time.”

“What do you mean, do it right?” Danny asked.

“I want to butcher one, scald it, and use it all. Make bacon, crackling, and everything else we can.”

Almost in unison, everyone shouted out, “Bacon?”

Thad was bombarded with questions about bacon. He started to laugh and held up a hand. “Yeah, I know how to make bacon, it’s easier than you think.”

“Then why, for God’s sake, didn’t we make it before?” I asked.

Thad shrugged. “We were kind of in a hurry last time.”

“How do we make it?” Mel asked.

“All it takes is salt and sugar. We got both of those. I’ll make a brine and soak it, then smoke it.”

“How do we store it without keeping it cold?” Bobbie asked.

“You just hang it up. It’ll keep. This isn’t the kind of bacon you buy at the store, it’s actually preserved meat as is,” Thad said with a smile.

Mel and Bobbie looked at one another. “I don’t know about that,” Bobbie said.

“Back before refrigeration, this is how people did it.”

“I’m all for some meat candy,” Jeff said.

“Me too, I’m game,” I said.

“I want bacon!” Little Bit shouted.

“It’ll be a few days, Ashley,” Thad said, patting her on the head.

Everyone’s joy at the thought of bacon was short-lived, as it started to rain. The weather forced us under the small shelter we’d constructed over the picnic tables. What we discovered was that while it kept the tables dry, it was woefully inadequate in protecting all of the benches. We were forced to one side of the table, facing the river. Luckily we had enough bench space for everyone.

At first the rain was no big deal—it was almost welcomed—but after several hours of nonstop downpour, it dampened our spirits as much as it did the fire in the pit outside. That was another oversight. While the canopy covered the tables, it didn’t cover the fire. I threw a piece of scrap plastic over the stack of firewood, and kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be too difficult to light after the storm.

“Daddy, I’m bored. How long is it going to rain?” Little Bit asked.

“I don’t know, kiddo.” I looked over at her older sisters. “Why don’t you guys go into the cabin and play a game or something?”

Lee Ann spoke up. “Let’s go play Monopoly.”

Little Bit jumped up. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go play!”

“I’ll play,” Taylor said.

“This is pretty miserable. I’ll play too,” Bobby said. “Mel, you want to?”

“Sure, you girls get it ready and we’ll be there in a minute,” Mel replied.

The girls jumped up from the table and ran off toward the cabin, splashing through the mud and laughing. Mel waited until the girls were gone, then looked at me. “What’s happened to her? She seems like a different person.”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. I was wondering the same thing.” Looking at Thad, I asked, “What happened while we were gone?”

Thad looked at both of us. “Nothing, we just talked a little. I think she’ll be all right.”

“What’d you talk about? I mean, it’s a night-and-day difference,” Mel said.

Thad rubbed the stubble on his head. “You know, she thought life was over. I just showed her what she had to live for.” Thad stared off toward the river. “I told her what it’s like to lose someone, what it’s like to lose more than just the Internet and cell phones.”

As Thad stared at the river, we sat quietly for a few seconds. “Thanks for sharing that with her, Thad. I know it was hard for you, but you may have saved her life,” I said.

“Yes, thanks, Thad,” Mel said.

Thad smiled. “Wasn’t nothing. Like I told her, we’re all family now. We got to look out for one another.”

“This is one fucked-up family,” Jeff said, causing everyone to break out laughing.

After we settled down, Danny asked about cooking the snails. “Since the fire’s out, we need to get out a stove or something to cook them on. You got any ideas, Thad?”

“That’s what I was thinking, use one of the camp stoves. We still have some lard from the hog and some seasonings. I’ll sauté them up and make some grits.”

“Snails and grits: doesn’t have quite the same ring as shrimp and grits,” I said, laughing.

“I’ll go get a stove,” Danny said, getting up. Mel and Bobbie got up too and headed toward the cabin. Unlike the girls, they tried to avoid the puddles.

“Man, this rain sucks,” I said.

“Imagine how bad it’d be if we didn’t have this little shelter,” Thad said.

I looked up at the plastic over our heads. “You’re right. Guess it could be worse.”

Danny came trotting back with the stove, now wearing his rain jacket. As Thad was setting up the Coleman, he held the fuel tank up and shook it. He gave Danny a devilish grin. “Ain’t no gas in it.”

Danny looked up. “What?”

Jeff held his hand out, letting rain drops land in his palm. “Looks like you’re going to get wet again.”

Danny shook his head, muttering under his breath, and headed out for the fuel, though he wasn’t running this time. When he finally got back and the stove was fueled, Thad set out a skillet and a pot of water to boil. We sat around the table chatting, waiting for the proverbial pot to boil.

After pulling the snail meat from the shells we cut off their hard little doors and their guts, leaving a small piece of meat. Fortunately, the girls had collected a little over three dozen. Thad made the grits and added the sautéed meats afterward. We called the girls out when it was ready, and they paused their game to have dinner. After cleaning up the dishes, everyone headed for their cabins, Thad taking the first watch. With no fire to sit around there wasn’t any reason to hang out.

The cabin felt damp and musty, the rain was making it uncomfortable, but we couldn’t do anything but make the best of it. The Monopoly championship was a great method of distraction.

Lee Ann laughed. “You landed on Boardwalk! You owe me rent big-time!”

“Why do you have two hotels there? That’s ridiculous,” Mel said as she started counting money.

“Well, you own all the utilities,” Taylor chimed in.

“I wanna buy something!” Little Bit shouted.

I smiled at them. Even though they were in this miserable little cabin they were still having fun, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Thad woke me up about ten, the rain still pounding. I collected my gear, threw a poncho on, and headed outside. This was going to be a long watch shift.

“See anything?” I asked as we walked back toward the canopy.

“No, even with the NVGs you can’t really see anything. And with the rain, you can hear even less.”

“Go on and get some sleep,” I said, slapping Thad on the back.

He smiled and headed off into the downpour. I climbed up onto the table and sat with my feet on the bench, then pulled off the poncho and laid it aside on the table. I looked through the goggles, and like Thad said, they were useless. With vision completely impossible, I tried to focus on sound.

At about two a.m., I heard a pig squeal, and quickly, all of them started to make a racket. Slipping the poncho over my head, I headed for the pen. I was about to pass Thad’s cabin, the closest to the pen, when the door flew open. Thad was standing there in a T-shirt and drawers. He was as surprised to see me as I was startled by the door opening.

“What’re the pigs fussin’ about?”

“Damn, you scared the shit out of me,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know, was about to go find out.”

“Hang on, I’ll go with you. Let me put on my pants.” Thad ducked back into the cabin and reemerged quickly, with Jeff in tow.

Thad was carrying the old coach gun and Jeff had his AK. We walked toward the pen in silence.

“I can’t see anything,” Jeff said.

“Me neither,” Thad agreed.

We could hear splashing, like the pigs were running around.

“All right, keep your eyes open. I’m going to hit the light on my rifle,” I said as I raised the carbine. As the light came on a voice in the dark said, “Oh shit!” We immediately moved toward the pen with weapons raised, I was sweeping the light from side to side trying to find whoever was out there.

We heard the zap from the electric fence, followed by someone screaming. Jeff started shouting, “Hey! Hey, stop!” We all ran for the fence and jumped it. For that brief moment when we were in the air, I saw Jeff disappear into the darkness. Thad scrambled up from the ground and kept running, while I shined my light, looking for Jeff. After a moment, I saw that he had landed facedown on the ground. If it wasn’t such a serious situation, I would’ve started laughing, but in this moment, I just yanked him up and took off.

When I caught up to Thad, he was struggling with someone on the ground. I knelt down to help him as Jeff slogged up. Then from back at the cabins, Danny shouted, “They’re in the chicken coop!”

“I’ll go,” Jeff said as he trotted back off for another attempt at jumping the fence.

I checked my pockets for my flashlight, not wanting to point my weapon at Thad. It seemed to take forever to find it. I turned it on just in time to see Thad land a crushing closed fisted blow to a young man’s face. He went limp, all the fight leaving him. Thad patted the kid down, pulled a knife from its sheath and handed it to me, then rolled him over and checked him again.

A shot and shouts came from the other side of the camp. I looked back at Thad, “You got him?”

Thad nodded, and I started running toward the rising sounds of chaos. As I got closer I could hear a girl screaming and immediately thought it was one of my girls, which pushed me to run faster. The damn poncho was really getting in the way, so I worked at getting it off as I ran, which is much more difficult than one would think.

I found Jeff, Danny, Mel, and Bobbie at the coop with a young woman and man who were sitting in the mud, looking pitiful.

“They were trying to steal the chickens,” Danny said.

“What was the shooting about?” I asked.

“I fired a warning shot,” Jeff said.

“This one was fighting with me when he got here,” Danny said, kicking the feet of the young man.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked the kid.

Before he could answer Thad walked up and deposited the other one on the ground beside his friends.

“Well, what were you doing?” I asked again.

“We’re hungry. We were just trying to get some food,” the girl cried.

“And you never thought to ask?” Danny said.

“Ask? Like you would’ve given us anything. No one gives anything away,” one of the young guys snarled.

“How many more of you are there?” I asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” the other said.

I shined my light into his face. “I hope for your sake we don’t. I have no problem putting a bullet in your head. Are there others at your camp?” I took a good look at him. Even through the steady rainfall, I could see he was dirty. He had a patchy growth of beard and was wearing a faux-leather jacket with
TRANS-AM
on the sleeves.

The two men looked at one another, then dropped their faces to the ground.

The girl started to cry again. “Please don’t kill us.”

“What are we going to do with them?” Mel asked.

I looked at Danny, then at Thad. Both just shrugged. Jeff gave me the same response when I looked at him. Finally I said, “I don’t know.”

“We can’t just let them go,” Thad said.

“Yes, you can. We’ll leave. You’ll never see us again,” the kid with the Trans-Am jacket said.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe the words of a thief,” I said.

“Let’s tie them up for now,” Jeff said.

We led them over to the canopy and sat them down on the bench. Once they were tied up, Thad and I sat down on the bench opposite them.

“You guys planned this pretty well. Good night for it. I guess you figured with all the rain no one would be out keeping an eye on things,” I said.

None of them replied. Danny jumped in. “Were you the ones who shot at us the other night?”

The girl looked at the other two before answering, “We don’t have any guns.”

“Don’t have any guns!” Jeff shouted.

“What’re your names?” Thad asked.

They hesitated for a minute, seeming unsure. “I’m Julie, that’s Brian,” she said, pointing to the one with the Trans-Am jacket, “and that’s Franco.” She gestured to the kid Thad had captured.

“Where are you guys camped?” I asked.

The three glanced at each other.

“No sense in hiding. We’ve got you now.”

Water and mud dripped from their faces onto the aluminum top of the table. Julie started to shake from the cold.